Thirfty Tuesday: Deal Blogs

On a daily basis I try to frequent a few deal blogs. What is a deal blog? A deal blog is a website where they post about the best coupon deals, where to find online coupons, and all kinds of online shopping deals.

My favorites are...

southernsavers.com
dealseekingmom.com
moneysavingmom.com

Aside from finding great printable and ecoupons to use, I have found some bargain shopping. Last week i scored a Valentine's shirt for Kendall ($3.80) from the children's place with FREE shipping! And I scored a newborn gown for Adley for $7.80 w/ free shipping from a boutique website.
This is why I check these sites every day!

Do you have a deal blog I should add to my list?

Thrifty Tuesday: Stockpiling for Baby

Thrifty Tuesday might become a weekly link up. I make no promises. I need to make sure I really am that thrifty. Ha!

My good friend Casey (who is also due with her second girl on March 27th) has me HOOKED on stockpiling baby supplies.

I signed up for -$2.00 Dreft coupons via. dreft.com and printed Pampers diapers/wipes coupons via coupons.com and pampers.com. Then I look for deals.

With Kendall I bought cases of diapers because I saw I got more than a jumbo pack. This time around I’m focusing on the best price per diaper.

Example: A few weeks ago Walgreens had 2 jumbo packs (aprox. 84 diapers for 2 size 1 packs) of Pampers for $18. Price per diaper $0.21. You also received $3 in Register Rewards and I had 2 (-1.50) coupons. So I got 2 packs/$12… $0.14 per diaper. Holla!

I made a little chart with goals in mind. I am not really using any logic on amounts/sizes, I just know I will use a lot and what I don’t use I will try to exchange/return so I am keeping receipts.

Did you stockpile before your babies?

Coupons 101: When the plan doesn’t work

Tonight Kendall and I went to Walgreens to spend $6 in Register Rewards that was expiring tomorrow. I made a little list based off the sales ad and what I felt I had the best coupons for.

M&M’s on sale $.49 (I had a $.75/2 coupon)

Scrunchi Elastic Pack on sale 2/$3 – earning $3 Register Rewards

Pure Silk Shave Gel on sale $.99 (I had $.80/1 coupon)

Bounty 6 roll paper towels 5.49 earning $1 Register Rewards ( I had a $1/1 coupon)

If my calculations were correct I would have walked out of the store with the following transaction.

6 M&M’s $2.94

2 Scrunchi’s $3.00

4 Pure Silk Shave Gels $3.96

1 Bounty Paper towels $5.49

Total before coupons = 15.39

Total after coupons = 8.94

Total after using Register Rewards = 2.94!!!!! And then earing $4.00 more Register Rewards… basically I would have walked out with FREE stuff!

BUT THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN…. :(

Don’t worry… there is a happy ending.

Kendall and I go inside Walgreens and decide to hit up the shaving aisle. That’s always where I go first because they always have deals.

Pure Silk shave gel SOLD OUT – I get a rain check for 4 … disappointing but I will be fine and will redeem this deal another day.

Scrunchi’s are sold out too… BOO!

So I pick up my M&M’s and paper towels and quickly do the math to realize my grand total after coupons will be less than my $6 in Register Rewards. :(

So we circle the store to see if we can find any killer deals (I had my coupon binder with me!!) and settle on a $1 pair of Minnie Mouse socks for Kendall.

I get to the checkout and in my usual (and crucial) order..

1. Let her scan all my items

2. Hand over my manufacturer coupons

3. Hand over my $4 Register Rewards

3. Hand over my $2 Register Rewards and BAM it won’t take it because my total was $2.62 and the register rewards will not cover tax.

So I quickly grab a Snickers ($.49) and after I hand her my $2 Register Rewards I owe a grand total of….

$1.21 & I received $1.00 back in Register Rewards

Not bad for all this, huh????

*** Walgreens is lame and does not honor register rewards with rain checks so that’s why I didn’t get a rain check for the scrunchi’s in case you were wondering. CVS does honor it’s Extra Bucks with a rain check. I heart CVS!***

 

Questions? Comments? Concerns?

Couponing 101

I promise to continue my couponing adventures as they go on but in the meantime here are a few links to some of my favorite coupon/bargain hunting sites.

Even if you have no desire to coupon… these sites often list free sample opportunities, online shopping codes and free redbox codes. They are worth checking out I promise!!!

www.southernsavers.com

This site not only lists all of the sales and non advertised sales at each popular store… but they list circular coupons by date for the items and provide links to printable coupons. And if it couldn’t get any better you can make your shopping list right off of their website!

www.iamamoneymagnet.com

I have followed this girl for awhile. She always goes into great detail with her shopping trips. She has great blogs about her stockpile (with pics) and how she organizes her coupons too.

www.extremelynormalcouponing.com

I just discovered this one and I’m loving it so far!

http://jane4girls.com/

This lady is amazing. For 2 years she had an ANNUAL budget of $800 for groceries! Did I mention that she has 4 daughters and is a single mom and only spent $800 to feed them????

I hope you enjoy these sites. If you have any great coupon/saving money website you enjoy please PLEASE leave a comment and let me know how to find it!

Couponing 101 #2

If you don't like clipping coupons, being organized and spending a little time researching sales ads... couponing is NOT for you and you will not save a large amount of money. It's the truth.

Start an organization system for your coupons.
To get some really good deals you will ned 4-6 weeks of coupon circulars. Websites like southernsavers.com (my personal favorite) will tell you which circular & date the coupon was in so you don't even need to clip them if you don't want to... however this girl is a clipper.Southerns Savers also has links to printable and electronic coupons. There is nothing worse than being at a store without my coupon binder and seeing a deal that I have a coupon for but not having said coupon with me!!! Ugh!
I have a binder. It works for me. I will expand on that another day. A small coupon divider works nice too.

Sunday I ran out to get the paper (no coupon circulars BOO)... but the CVS ad had some great deals.
I circled things in the ad I would buy or deals I liked. Then I flipped through my coupon binder to see if I had any coupons for these deals. Then I logged onto southernsavers.com to see if they had any coupon links for printable coupons for some of the deals.
I made a little list and attached the coupons I needed to the list. That's all I took with me to the store (big mistake) because I didn't want to haul the binder out with me.

Here's how my adventure went down...

They were out of a few things I needed (boo!) so I wasn't able to get everything I wanted. BUT I asked when the truck comes in (FRIDAY) so I will be back.

Pampers Jumbo Packs on sale $8.99 ExtraBucks (EB) $2.00
I had a $2.00 manufacturer coupon for pampers
Tide Laundry detergent $5.94
I had a $1.00 manufacturer coupon for any size Tide
(This is where I got upset because the sale extends to the Free & Gentle Tide which I have a $2.00 off coupon for in my coupon binder - dang!)
Crest Toothpaste on sale $1.99 EB $1.00
Glacier Smart Water $5/5 EB $2.00

Normally I wouldn't have purchased the Crest Toothpaste or Glacier water because I didn't have any coupons for them but I'm trying to build up my Extrabucks EB's for my next shopping trip so I can roll them. Rolling refers to earning EB's and then purchasing items to get more EB's and then repeating the whole process. Basically I will get to a point where I will never pay money for my purchases at CVS I will just use store credit I earned. To get started initally you must purchase with money... you follow me???
Oh and we also needed toothpaste and I wanted a water bottle.

Here is how the transaction went...

5 Glacier Waters $5.00
Tide $5.94
Crest $1.99
Pampers $8.99
Total : $21.92

I had a $2.00 pampers coupon and a $1.00 Tide coupon so I paid $18.92 out of pocket however...

I earned

$2.00 EB's for Pampers
$2.00 EB's for Glacier Waters
$1.00 EB for Crest

So technically I only paid $13.92

Now when I go back to the store on Friday (when the truck comes in) or next week when there is a new sale ad I will have $5 in EB's to use towards earning more EB's.

Questions??? Comments??? Concerns???

Couponing 101

Happy Tuesday! I'm going to post all about our GREAT Memorial Holiday and weekend sometime tonight but I wanted to start a little blog series about coupons while it's fresh!

Back in 2008... long before TLC's extreme couponing show... when I was a newly married woman I can across a few blogs that changed my shopping life. They were all about shopping smart and saving money. I drooled over these women's bargains and stockpiles. So I decided to give it a try. I would clip my coupons, hunt deals on the Internet and began "stockpiling" my goods in our second bathroom's bathtub.
Then I stopped. I threw my coupon binder away and never looked back. :(

These days everyone is couponing and since I'm buying diapers ALL the time and Kendall can now sit in the shopping cart I figured I'd dust off the ole coupon binder and give it another go.

Before I begin my little coupon series I would like you all to know that I am no expert and I will probably never buy 100 mustards at Kroger on a shopping trip for a penny. There are plenty of other websites that will explain couponing better than I can and I will try and link you to those sites. But what I can do is show you how I plan on saving money with couponing.
Let's begin...

If you learn nothing else about couponing from me please remember this one general rule. YOU HAVE TO SHOP EVERY WEEK TO SAVE MONEY COUPONING.  The KEY to couponing is shopping the weekly sales. Each store usually has a sale trend/rotation for items and that is how people stockpile. If you have a $.50 coupon on salad dressing and you use it when the salad dressing is at regular price... let's say $1.99... that's great you saved $.50. BUT.... if you wait until the salad dressing goes on sale for $1.00 - you will pay $.50 for a $1.99 salad dressing. Or $0 if your store doubles coupons up to $1.00. Make any sense????

In my experience I have found the best deals to be on NON-food items at drug stores. Drug stores??? Aren't they usually more expensive when it comes to toothpaste/soap/diapers etc? Yes. But they have awesome deals and store perks!

CVS & Walgreen's are the drug stores where I coupon. Here are all the ways you can save money/earn store money at these stores.

CVS
CVS shoppers card (like a Kroger card)
Weekly ad
In store coupons printed at kiosk
ExtraBucks earned on certain products

Walgreen's
Weekly ad
Weekly coupons in ad & use a manufacturer's coupon (Use both for double savings)
Instant savings coupon monthly booklet
Register Rewards earned on certain products
Rebates

ExtraBucks (CVS)  & Register Rewards (Walgreens)
This is where you are going to save LOTS of money. The only way I can explain this is by using a scenario.
This week CVS has Crest toothpaste on sale for $1.99. When you purchase this product using your CVS card at the end of your receipt you will get an additional receipt coupon with a bar code (Extrabucks) for $1.00. You are able to use this $1.00 Extrabuck on your next purchase. Be careful to watch for the expiration date because you'd hate to lose this free money.
So...
Crest Toothpaste $1.99
Earned $1.00 Extrabuck
Technically you paid $.99 for the toothpaste?

Well imagine if you'd had a coupon for this toothpaste...
Crest Toothpaste $1.99
Manufacturer's coupon $1/1 toothpaste
Total at Register $.99
Earned $1.00 Extra buck printed on receipt
You EARNED $.01 on this transaction???

Then you're going to safely tuck that Extra buck receipt into your wallet until next week when something else goes on sale and you can earn more extrabucks.

For example...
This week they have Mars Candy bars 2/$1 and you earn $1 Extra bucks on the transaction. You can repeat this whole process over again except when it's time to pay for your candy bars at $1.00... you hand over your $1.00 Extrabucks to pay for the transaction.

2 Mars Candy bars $1.00
Pay with $1.00 Extrabuck receipt
Total now $0 or just the tax
Earn $1.00 Extra buck
If you'd had a coupon for the Mars Candy bars the store would owe you money!

Make any sense????
Have I totally lost you???
I'd be happy to answer any questions you have about this... I will post my most recent CVS & Walgreens transactions sometime tomorrow.